


yeah, you know her

by rattlingbones



Category: Mean Girls (2004)
Genre: College, F/F, Future Fic, Gen, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-15 23:51:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8078608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rattlingbones/pseuds/rattlingbones
Summary: Of course Regina George ends up at the same tiny liberal arts college in the middle of nowhere as Janis.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shinealightonme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinealightonme/gifts).



Of fucking course Regina George ends up at the same tiny liberal arts college in the middle of nowhere as Janis. Because that is exactly the kind of shit that happens to Janis.

There’s a (mandatory! super important!) hall meeting for 3A and Janis had slinked in, just barely on time and sleep-mussed from her evening nap to find Regina George enthroned in one of the few arm chairs in the middle of the packed common room. She’s as blonde and pretty as she always was and Janis kind of wants to throw up because _why, why, why is she here_?

Regina George looks up at that minute and freezes when she sees Janis.

Well. At least Janis isn’t the only one horrified by this.

 

Janis hasn’t talked to Caddy in months. Hasn't bothered to call or text; phones work both ways so clearly Caddy isn't bothered by this, either. They were more situational friends than anything. Janis was bored the first day of school and Caddy was like some weird-ass alien from Planet Oblivious who didn’t understand basic human social interaction. Maybe more like an exotic pet. It was Damien who wanted to keep her, really.

Then Caddy turned into a damn Plastic (admittedly, Janis played no small part in this) and then almost burnt down the school in revolution and then pushed Regina in front of a bus and then declared world peace.

So Janis had always liked Caddy all right, barring a few weeks when she really hated her, but if Janis is honest she'd always figured there was an expiration date on their friendship. Caddy was a good 'high school friend,' not a 'foreseeable future friend' like Damien. Not a 'forever friend,' like Janis once thought Regina was. None of this stops Janis from IMing Caddy .02 seconds after she gets back to her room once the (mandatory! super important!) meeting ends.

IanJanizz: youll never fukcin guess who goes to my college nd lives dwn the hall from me fml

Caddy replies in less than a minute, so she must be bored or curious.

Cady87: ??

IanJanizz: fucking evil incarnate that's who

IanJanizz: regina george

Caddy doesn't reply to that, even though she's obviously still signed in on AIM. Janis probably wouldn't have replied either. There isn't much to say about this kind of shitty luck.

 

Look, Janis will be the first to admit that high school got a lot better after Caddy accidentally-on-purpose staged a bloody coup.

“Better” still isn’t the same thing as “good,” though. Just because life stopped being actively horrible doesn’t mean that all those years of misery were instantly forgotten.

 

When Janis and Regina were eleven and were basically old enough to know they were getting too old to play make-believe games but still young enough to pretend they didn't know that, they used to pretend they were wife and wife. Regina's little sister Kylie, who was then still in the midst of the early childhood potato stage, became their baby. Their homework was paperwork from the office. Regina was quick to pick up fractions and decimals, she'd never struggled with numbers like Janis did, but Janis was miles better at geography so they'd sit at the kitchen island and help each other. Occasionally Janis or Regina would say something like “I'm due for a raise, so we can buy a new playhouse for our daughter if you want” and “The boss is being a real witch with a B! I can't believe we had to take home all this work” and “Pass the pencil sharpener, Mrs. Ian-George” and it was easy and sweet.

Janis hates that when she sees Regina George she remembers this part of her, too.

 

Janis doesn't see much of Regina their first semester despite the small size of the college and the fact that they live on the same hall. They don't have any classes together and their social circles have little to no overlap. Sometimes they'll pass each other on the green or in one of the buildings. Most of the time Janis will nod to Regina or Regina will nod to Janis. It's all very Civil and Adult.

Janis hears from her roommate that Regina is developing a reputation as being kind of intense.

“You mean she's a bitch?” Janis asks.

“No, not that,” Sylvia frowns and purses her lips. “Just really driven, I guess? Like, she's super into getting good grades in her courses but she also parties a lot and still signs up for tons of intramural.”

Janis shrugs it off, returning to her political geography assignment. Whatever. She won't sic Caddy on Regina this time.

 

And mostly, that's it. Janis goes to classes on campus and parties off campus and switches from a major in geography to a double major in poli sci and visual arts so she barely has time to breathe let alone keep up with Regina George's life.

Janis drives home to Evanston for Non Denominational Holiday Break less than an hour after her last final is turned in. Her parents welcome her back, all hugs and smiles. They're pleased she thinks she did all right in her finals. And she's not wearing her hair the way she had in high school—too much gel, too much effort—which they're _extremely_ pleased about.

When she finally manages to extricate herself from their love she goes over to Damian's house. He's in the garage, exactly where she knew he'd be. What she wasn't expecting was to see Caddy and Karen Smith there with him. Janis pauses in the doorway.

“'Sup, mortals.” “Janis!” Damian's squeal is ear-splitting and his bear hug crushing. “Yay--you're here!”

Caddy and Karen Smith are up and pressing in for hugs, too, which. Okay. Janis didn't think she gave off the impression that she was a greeting-hugger but whatever.

“Cady and Karen were just telling me all about Northwestern.” Damien says. “Come sit down. Want a fruit roll-up?”

Janis accepts one and joins them on the couch to listen to Karen chirp about her courses in physical sciences. Karen's weirdly fixated on Hurricane Katrina months after the fact and not in a 'we must help those poor people' kind of way but in a 'my nipples are still tingling because of sustained winds of 100 to 140 miles an hour' kind of way.

Caddy seems relaxed. She's still dating Aaron. Still enjoying studying math (nerd). Still Caddy.

“So how's college life, Janis?” Karen asks.

“Pretty sweet, mostly.” She answers. “Except Regina George goes to my school. So I guess the only thing that could make it better is if she got run over by a bus again.”

There's an awkward silence. Karen examines her nail beds very closely while Damian and Caddy look all disappointed with her. “Janis,” Caddy finally says. “I thought we were all over this. Junior year was like, ages ago.”

Janis shrugs.

 

(It's not just junior year and Janis isn't over it.)

 

On the first day of spring semester Janis shows up a minute late to class and doesn't notice Regina is in the room until it's too late to fuck off gracefully.

The professor, because she is a monster, has them arrange their desks in a circle and Janis ends up almost directly across from Regina. Of course. The prof then proceeds to give a long-ass, rambling speech about who knows what. Except when Janis looks around the circle most of her classmates seem enraptured.

Except Regina.

They catch each other's eyes. Janis can feel an expression of 'This bitch? Seriously?' on her face, an expression which is mirrored on Regina's face.

In the last ten minutes of the class the professor announces that they will have to do partnered projects in lieu of a midterm. Janis doesn't drop the class. It's a stupid class and she hates it but she needs to meet distribution requirements and it fits her schedule. Regina doesn't drop the class, either. This was how it was when they were young. Janis and Regina.

They were always so good at being mean together that Janis never realized they could, or would, be mean to each other. Until they were.

Maybe they can learn how to be mean, together, again.

**Author's Note:**

> title from Blondie's "Rip Her to Shreds"


End file.
